RECAPS:  The haunt takes place inside the home of the infamous Deadwood Brothers, better known as "The House That Never Sleeps,” Twelvepole Manor!  Lines form out front, entrance is gained via the front door, which opens into a living room where a strange woman is seated beside a dead body.  “That’s my husband!  I killed him!” she brags to the accompaniment of flickering lights as the exploration advances into a dining area and an immediate warning to, “Get out!”  The course mandates walking into a freezer, then through a wine cellar before emptying into a gory kitchen where multiple encounters with a massive butcher swinging a blood-stained meat cleaver take place.  Escape through a hallway of gruesome body bags soon discovers a caged girl desperately pleading, “Help me!  Get me out of here!”  Finding no way to free her from captivity, progression through dimly lit corridors and past hands reaching out between cracks, crevices, and holes in the wall leads into a funeral parlor revealing an intimidating undertaker standing beside a coffin happily proclaiming, “He’s gone to Hell, where he’s getting torn apart limb by limb!” The wicked mortician moves closer and promises, “I’ll be seeing you all again real soon!”

Climbing the steps upstairs exposes an erratic girl playing with demented dolls screaming, “You’re all going to Die!” as she stabs one of her stuffed playmates with a sharp stick!  Continuance results in a run-in with some sort of snorting, bandaged-up creature that encourages the way into a couple of trophy rooms displaying various animal heads and springing a few surprises.  Navigation continues through a library, a bathroom, and into a bedroom where a convulsing girl seems possessed by demons in a devilish reenactment straight out of The Exorcist!

Venturing outside chaperones navigation to “Damien’s Carnevil,” where circus music plays, giant jesters pop out of boxes, and killer clowns are anxious to club you with a giant mallet, or “Cut off your toes and dip them in cheese!”  Still to come is an outhouse surprise, followed by a hillbilly girl wanting to skin you alive, and a walk through a satanic shack with pentagrams decorating the floor and walls!  From there, it’s onto the green, murky Twelvepole Creek that gives rise to many monstrosities prior to exiting into a dark mineshaft!

Additional attacks take place by an old horse trailer courtesy of a burlap sack masked ghoul shooting sparks; inside an old garage; and in the “Deadwood” Slaughter Company that’s best described as a murderous shack filled with slain animals and human appendages, and witnesses one of the brothers going on a chainsaw rampage through a spooky cemetery, where a pig-faced behemoth comes out of hiding revving a chainsaw of his own giving chase completely out of Twelvepole Manor!

ANALYSIS:  Design and detailing are outstanding, and the atmosphere is frightening!  The manor contains elaborate, movie-grade sets, flickering lights, complimentary sounds, drop panels, and a number of animatronic and mechanical surprises throughout the attraction.  The haunt cleverly plays off the satanic background of the estate, as well as the Deadwood family history!  Butcher, undertaker, doll girl, burlap sack spark shooting ghoul, hillbilly girl, and pig-faced villain were best actors of the night.  Exorcist girl deserves recognition as best prop.  While much of the cast interacts with meaningful dialogue, it’s weak at times defaulting to, “What are you doing in my (fill in the blank – kitchen, bedroom, etc.)?” which was heard on several occasions.  Addressing this minor issue would elevate their score even higher.

Ohio Valley Haunts was most impressed with our first visit to Twelvepole Manor!  Their performance earned them a spot on our annual list of Top 13 Attractions!  Pay them a visit and see for yourself why this is one of the best haunts the area has to offer!